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D'ELIVERED BEFORE THE 



VERMONT 



COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 



iWlont)ielfet% <!^ctot)et 17, I827. 



BY CALVIN YALE, 

PASTOR PF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN CHARI.OTTt. 



PUBLISHED BT BEQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. 



MONTPELZER. 

PRINTED BY E. P. WALTON — WATCHMA^T OFFK^t. 
...1827.... 



SERMON. 



PROVERBS, xvi. S. 

"better IS A MTTI.r,, WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAN GREAT RKVE' 
NUES WITHOUT RIGHT." 

The purposes for which we are assembled, arc indeed of no.prdin- 
ary magnitude. We are assembled for the promotion of truth, jus- 
tice, humanity, the universal freedom of man, the cause of morality 
and rehgion, the cause of our country, and of the civilized world; 
nay, the common cause of every intelligent being upon this habita- 
ble globe. We are assembled to investigate the principles of right, 
in the intercourse of man with his fellow, and to cast in our contribu- 
tion to alleviate the wretchedness of those who Iiave been grievously 
wronged. What place more suitable to discuss these subjects, 
than that in which the Legislature of a state is in session, and what 
time more suitable for contributing, than that, when our storehouses 
are filled with plenty, and our hearts with gladness. 

Coma we then to the topics before us with ardent minds, and ho-nt- 
est intentions. 

The immediate object of the Colonization Society is, to relieve our 
nation from an onerous burden, the free coloured population, to re- 
deem the same from degradation and crime, to place them on tlie 
shores of their mother country, in such circumstances, as fiivor their 
own improvement, and that of their kindred. And it cunnot be de- 



nioil, that the succeaeful prosecution of thia object, inay ultimateij 
lead to the extinction of slavery in the United States ; and in con- 
junction with the efforts of others, the extinction of it in tlie West 
Indies, and to the civilization of tlie whole African race. 

O, that was a most triumphant subject of political glorying, that 
whatever human being '• sets foot upon the soil of Britain, that mo- 
ment he is free." And that was a most righteous decision of the 
English bench, that a footing upon the bottom of a British vessel, in 
whatever sea, gives the same rights, as a footing upon British soil.* 
Why sliould not this be said of America, since she was the first to 
declare in the face of the world, tJiat " all men are created free and 
equal, and have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness." Alas! tlie evil wliiclj we are now seeking to eradicate 
W'as entailed upon us before we iiad a national existence. That we 
may not entail it upon the latest posterity, every American citizen ia 
bound to do the utmost in his power. 

It is a great, though gradual change of our relations to the people of 
colour, that the Colonization Society is seeking to compass. Wo 
would, that every white man should treat the man of colour as he 
would wish himself to be treated, on the supposition of a change in 
places. We would put our soul in their souls stead, and obey the 
golden rule. We would that they all were in their own land in the full 
enjoyment of civil and religious J'reedom. In order to be excited to 
cissist in accomplishing this, sulficicnt motives must be placed before 
lis, and we may consider them on the present occasion as ranged un- 
der Ihe arguments, from profit, pom( v and nuiHTKoiSNKss. 

The exislv^ relniions, between tlie whiie and coloured ])(/pulation of 
the United States arc unprnjUablc. This id true, both with respect to 
the free people of colour, and the slaves. Besides the general prin- 
ciple, that the man who is ignorant, brow beaten and oppressed, is an 
unprofitable servant, because he goes forth nnwilhngly and heart 
broken to bis toil, we have statistical facts to show, that a vastly 
greater proportion of the crimes committed, and the consequent ex- 
penses to the public, for apprehension and punishment, are from the 
coloured population, than from the white. t And the reason of this 
is obvious: It is their moral debasement. 



♦Christian Observer, App. 1825, page 819. 

tla Vermont the whole coloured population is only 918 souls, from 



ll'tlie inquii'v wore raiide also res^pecting the public cxpoiisoa oi" 
pauperism, similar results mii!,'ht be expoctml. 

And every body knows, tltat very low of the race in this part of 
the world pu'?scss taxable jiropcrty, so as to siistnin any tolerable pro- 
portion of the public burdens. It follows therefore tiiut in a pecunia- 
ry point of ligh.t, they are a dead weight upon the country. Taken 
together, they do not suj)port themselves. What they are in respect 
to morals, the facts recorded in our courte of justice, will t<ufncionliy 
ahow. 

It is not my intention by these references to excite any odium 
against this unfortunate class of men, but the very truth wlicn 
brought distinctly before the mind will afford tlie strongest motives 
to that particular exertion in their favoi-, which it is (he object of 
this meeting to call forth. Besides, it ife the argument of interoot 
tjiat I am now urging. And here I migiit nuke one appeal to the 
wisdom of our legislative counsels, and inquire, whether it might not 
be proper, by prospective enactments to forestal, and jirevent the ex- 
penses of prison disiSipline, and the nameless and numberless expens- 
es for the apprehension, subsistence and trial of felons, by provisions 
for raising the character of that population among which the great- 
est number of them is found? And the same inquiry may be made in 
reference to forestalling, and cutting off at length the expenses of 
pauperism ? For the example of older states, and of Great Britain, 
amply bhows, that the demands from this source can never be met by 
the richest provisions of legal charity. 

If, as I have shown from facts, the free population of the coloured 
race is a pecuniary burden, and an irameasurablc nuisance to morali- 
ty, in the northei-a states, to say nothing of the danger impending 

•whom 24 have been furnished for the Peuitentiary. About 07ie m cverv 

forty. 

In Mass. coloured pop. leas than 7,000 — Coloured convicts, 50 

Conn. " " C,000 "- " 39 

N, York, " ** 39,000 " " 1 54 

54,000 245 

Massachusetts expended in supporting black convicls in states prison. 

in 10 years, $17,734 

Conn. " in 15 years, 37,166 

N.York, " in 27 years, W0,16G 

$1G4,066 
First Rep. Pris. D-is. Sac. lQ26,paga 36—37, 



from the i)osbil»le coinbiiiatiun oftljeir pliysical strength at the south ; 
it will be no difficult task to phow all this respecting slaves, and that 
they also are absolutely without profit 1o their owners, and to the 
community, both in a pecuniary and moral point of view. 

To prove this, it were sufficient to survey the once fruitful, but 
now exhausted lands of lower Virginia and the Carolinas, and inquiro 
why so great anxiety should be manifested by the slra'e holding states, 
that th5 acknowlc'.lged curse of our country should be extended to 
the newly organized states and territories west of the Mississippi, and 
oven if possible north of the Ohio river, were it not to furni?h a mar- 
ket fir the produce of tiioir stock of tlaves, to the cultivation of which, 
for sale, they have turned their attention since a bad husbandry has 
worn out their soil ; or, perhaps to supply them places where they may 
emigrate with their elavcs, ai" the last refuge from the bankruptcy in- 
duced by this imprr.vident system. 

Every observing man knows, it is cheaper to pay a labourer com- 
n>on wages', and lot him fake care of himself, than to engage to feed 
and clothe him coniti)rfably, for ail the work, that in such circum- 
ptances there is probability of his doing tjie year round. And every 
one knows, that few in the whole population are really effijctive men, 
or women, that do actually labour to any profit besides subsisting 
themselves. When from the products of these, is to be deducted the 
support of the aged, the sick, and the unproductive children on a plan- 
tation, what I pray you can remain for a luxurious master, and his 
extravagant household ? It must require good economy, on the best 
of land under such circumstances, to bring the year about, and not 
draw upon the future for present expenses. But when we consider 
the indolence and wastefulness of dependants, who are sure of sup- 
port, and add to this the ignorance and recklessness of those who 
hove no interest but that of a slave, embarrassment in property be- 
comes almost certain, and a matter of course to the master. This 
reasoning is fully substantiated by well known facts in the British 
West Indies. After all the overworking, exacted by the lash of the 
cctrL-ichip and to such extent, as to waste away the population, instead 
o\' permitting it to increase, the planters have been scarcely able to 
keep themselves from ruin even with a protecting duty, which goes 
to secure the sale of their sugars in Great Britain in preference to 
others. Strange to tell, in a climate, wliich requires but httle, and 
whcr J the masters furnieh almost no clothing, and whore incessant 



toil is exacted, with the exception of one hour and nn hair, from m;ii 
rise till sunset, amounting- lo no less tlian ten lionrs, ancl soinelimuii 
to twelve and fourteen, during j^ix days in tiie werk, tlie year round, 
yet the planters cannot live, as they are in the Iialiit of iivinrr, with- 
out the bounty of government, to the amomit of one nullion two hun- 
dred thousand pounds annually, on sugar alone, and on rollec, twen- 
ty-eight shillings per hundred weigiit. {Srr Ch. Ohs. pmum. ml. 
JVeg. S. ajvp. 1825, p. 826.) 

They cannot bring their articles into market in competition wiih 
the rest of the world, but after shortening tiie days of their field ne- 
groes by excessive overworking which wear them out quickly, they 
think it a great hardship that the way is not open for liiem, to got 
new recruits from Africa to supply the was 'o of death. If these 
facts, which are stated on the authority of parliamentary invosti'M- 
tion, are not sufficient to prove the unprofitableness of the slave sys- 
tem, as it actually exists, nothing can prove it. And in the United 
States nothing but the continual opening of new fields for the tn>- 
ployrnent of the surplus population of this class which our local situa- 
tion is adapted to produce in the rich bottom lands of the southwest, 
has hitherto prevented the cry of bankruptcy from reaching to the 
ultimate regions of the north, in so loud and terrific a note, as noth- 
ing but the alarm of insurrection, and general massacre could c.x- 
eeed. 

If it be objected to this statement that there is a willingness to re- 
tain the slave system, unprofitable and ruinous as it is, at the soutii, 
and great excitement is produced by every attempt to investigate the 
subject, I answer, that people ia embarrassed circumstances, and not 
knowing the true cause are easily excited, while, as yet they arc un- 
wiHing to abandon the course of long established business. Nor can 
they at once. But there are some who do see the evils, and the dis- 
profit of this system. The discussions of the subject in the public 
prints in the year 1825, in which several writers in the slave-holding 
states took an active part, manifestly show that thinking men both 
at the north and south have but one opinion. The greatest light 
however comes to us through the medium of the Englisii press, in 
their free discussions of their own systems of colonial slavery, and 
the remarks of travellers that visit the United States. It is from 
this source that many disqlosurea appear, which it would be hardly 
prudent for a northern man to make and whicli a southern man v.-oiil-l 



hot make.''' Perhaps tlie time is gone by, i:i which it was nccersaiy 
that the enormities of the slave system, should be brought to the 
light of day: and even allusions to them except for the support of 
argument we trust may shortly cease, by the common consent of all 
people ; when not only individuals, but state legislatures, and the 
national government shall make adequate appropriations to remove 
from us the burden under which our common country groans. ]\Ia- 
lyland set a noble example last March, when her legislature author- 
ized the American Colonization Society to draw one thousand dol- 
lars a year from her treasury to transport free persons of colour with- 
in that state to Liberia. 

I shall now proceed to the second argument, and t^liow, thai sound 
jtolicy requires the c > :trcd popul:Uion to be removed from Ihis country. 

It was the same year that our fathers landed at Plymouth, 1620, 
when for the first time, slaves to the nunfuor of about forty, were 
brouglit to the ancient colony at Jamestown, in Virginia. It was 
a mistaken policy to admit them, and to think of cultivating the vir- 
<xin soil of Americu, with any but the hands of freemen. It is not 
surprising however, that they who were brought up in delicate hab- 
its, and had witnessed no cxainples of a hardy yeomanry subsisting 
by personal labour, and enjoying at the same time the independence 
arising from competency, and sufficient mental cul:ivation, should at 
first revolt from the fatigues of felling the primitive forests, and suf- 
fering the rigors of heat and cold, in a climate to which they were 
strangers. 

The feudal system too, of Lords and vassals, under the monarchies 
of Europe, and the Roman system of master and slave in that ancient 
republic were adapted to attract their notice, and the progress of re- 
ligious freedom, had not yet led men to the adoption of those princi- 
ples of conduct with respect to all men, required uj the Scriptures. 

We can conceive, that even good people, might have been mis- 
taken in their views of this subject, so as, to congratulate themselves 
on the event, and to thank God for that, which proves to be the deep- 
est curse ever inflicted upon North-America, ^^'hy should we bo 
astonished at this, when almost two centuries had rolled away, and « 
mighty revolution had taken place in our own political state, before 
even the enlightened and benevolent, could be waked up to see the 

*S«e Christian Obserrer, May, 1825, p. 289, app. 1811}, p. 818. 



uuprolitablcncsy, and impolicy, to say noiliintr oflho injtiHlirp niul iii- 
Jhuinanity of holding thejjr fellow men in unwillinfr bond;!^.,-. Wo 
may indeed, account it a discovery of modern diilo. liiat it is not a 
hardlotfor a freeman to labour and apply liiniselfstoudily to business, 
though it be in tlio open field, and in diUbrent stales of tlie nlinos- 
phere. 

Now the argument which bcar^ upon the point m hand, l^ this. — 
So long as we have a claiis of people among us, wiio can never bo 
raised to an equality, and feel themselves to bo men with men, tho 
effect is to foster a spirit of domination on the one hand and servili- 
ty on the other, a spirit utterly incompatible with tlie freedom of our 
institutions and the genius of our government. Ilcncc tho danger of 
Subversion. Therefore it is sound policy to have that people remo- 
ved. But according to our own principles, we cannot do it, if tlioy 
are unwilling. Wo have brought them here, and wo cannot lawful- 
ly compel them to depart. But it is sound policy, to provide such a 
place for them, and set such motives before them, and afford thorn 
■ such facilities and assistance, as will lead them to a voluntary emi- 
gration to the place where the God of nature huTisclf has fixed their 
approprititG home. 

, These arc the very things, the Colonization Society proposes to 
accomplish. The enterprize is indeed one of great magnitude, but 
the necessity of it is imperious, and the dangers of neglecting to en- 
gage in it are immense. We do not expect that it will be achieved 
by individual e:'ertion, or' by private charity alone ; but it is consist- 
ent with the genius of our institutions, that men should associate to- 
gether to investigate subjects of common political concernment, and 
having come to an acquaintance with them, to difluse the hght 
throughout the community, and thus at length operate upon our le- 
gir-lativc assemblies, confidently expecting that our political far hers, 
will bo among the first to adopt those measures which the welfare of 
the body politic imperiously demands. 

Although an unoffending individual of any complexion arrived to 
manhood, has a perfect natural right to liberty, and no man lias a 
natural right to retain such an one a moment in bondage, yet it would 
be neither justice nor policy for our government at once to declare 
every man free. Better for us to take such a course as, to use the 
language of Mr. Buxton, will let the " nuisance die away end burn 
down to the socket." This might have been speedily, as we have 
B 



10 

seen, by its unprofitableness, if we could have kept it hemmed in, and 
restricted to the old states. To have done thid would not have in- 
fringed their conventional rights. 

Another course also I will venture to suggest might be pursued 
consistently with justice and sound i>olicy ; and that would be lor the 
United States to buy of the slave holders tlic wliole amount of this 
alledged property, which by the original confederation of the states, 
and the constitution of the government, was admitted to be such, and 
which in that " day which tried mens souls" could not safely have 
been denied, or refused. But now, since the government is firmly 
established and the principles of right acknowledged with respect to 
the man of colour as well as the white, that may be redeemed with 
money, which was then conceded for the sake of political safety ; and 
the whole republic, like one great brotherhood on whom the smiles 
of prosperity rest, may deal righteously with that unfortunate race, 
as they have at If ngth eougiit to redress, though at a late period, the 
wrongs of the surviving revolutionary soldiers. It is a national con- 
cern. And may 1 not be permitted to suggest, that it would bo 
sound policy for the legislature of every state, immediately to make 
provision lor the removal of every coloured person within its limits, 
who is willing to go to Africa, and to declare as did the state of 
New- York, that all of them born after a certain period shall be free; 
and finally that the United States in a short scries of years, should 
purchase and remove, at the national charge, the whole of those whom 
it once consented to have kept in bondage .' Does not national jus- 
tice, national consistency and national safety require it .' The inter- 
est of individuals too, who hold slaves, will shortly require it accor- 
ding to the preceding statements, unless like the British governuicnt, 
with respect to the West Indies, we consent in one form or another 
to pay a bounty for slave grown produce. The argument from poli- 
cy will receive additional strength, while we consider as proposed — 
Thirdhj — The ari^^imcnlfrom righteousness. 

Here, it will be taken for granted that any thing which is morally 
wrong cannot be politically right. We know, we feel that there is 
ONE who " rules among the inhabitants of the earth, as well as in the 
armies of heaven," that hears the sighs of the captive, and sees the 
tears and stripes of the oppressed. 

If it were satisfactorily proved, that the master has an equal right 
to the services of the man of colour bought with his money, or raised 



11 

upon his eslato, as he has to the services of n. iioTsc or an ox ncquir- 
ed in hke manner, yet were it incumbent on liim in each cusc to kIiow 
an equivalent rendered for such service, and liio authority by wliicli 
he claims it. 

In the case of the brute the full equivalent, wlicrc no al)U8c in in- 
flicted, is the care and protection and sensitive comfort, furnished to 
the animal, and the authority is the special grant of the supremo ruler. 
Where every thing is as it should be, it proves a matter of nuitual 
accommodation, and it can be hardly determined, especially in liicse 
northern climates, which is most the servant, tlie man, vr the domcu- 
tic animal which he feeds and shelters, and ])ruvidos for in the dcptiis 
of winter, when if left to itself it would inevitably perisJi. 

But the case is different with the man who is a slave, though of 
the lowest grade of common intellect. 

He is possessed of a nature competent to provide for itself; and if 
there may be many cases in which slaves are not competent to pro- 
vide for themselves, though of adult age, these cases are wholly ad- 
ventitious, and would cease to exist, in the climate, to which they 
were originally adapted if not where they now arc. Tlie equivalent 
for service therefore is not the protection and subsistence afforded. 
Besides, the fact in many cases is, that no protection, and no subsist- 
ence is afforded, except that which the wretched man furinshes him- 
self, by spending one day in seven, and that too, the proper time of 
holy rest, in laboring on his provision grounds or attending the mark- 
et. Because the six days toil every week, under the lash of the driv- 
er or other stimulant equally cruel must needs be exacted, for which 
he receives absolutely no compensation. Tel! me not, that v>-hile in 
the vigor of life, he is paying the expenses of his ciiildhood, and lay- 
ing up support for old age. Tell me not, tiiat this is as much as 
many freemen do, who have no patrimonial estate. Be it so. Yet 
the free man all along has the enjoyment of the sweet ciiaritics of 
life ; and though always poor, may attain elevation, in the intellectu- 
al and moral scale of being, which stamps a worth upon his charac- 
ter, and ensures respect from his fellows, that can never be attained 
by him who is shut out from mental improvement, and exists under 
the degrading conviction, that he is a mere drudge, a chattel, a 
slave. There is no country under heaven, where this state of things, 
is so incongruous, and oppressive as in our own. For here every 



12 

citizen may aspire to better his condition, or seek whliout impediment 
the highest place for which he is quahfied. 

If this state of things, in comparison with other countries, be not 
known generally to the ignorant slave, thus heightening his misery 
by the contrast, yet it is seen by tiiousands whose bosoms are not 
steeled to the sufferings of others, and it fills them with pangs of re- 
gret, for they know it is unrighteous. The argument therefore 
from this source, goes to show that their relations to us, should be 
changed as soon as possible. And since it is morally impossible, 
that they should be raised to a participation of equality with us, they 
must be removed from us. Righteousness requires this, e\'en could 
there be assurance of the kindest treatment hereafter. 

But if an equivalent for service were rendered, as alleilged, in the 
first purchase money, the inquiry arises, whether it were rendered to 
the rightful claimant ? Was it paid to the slave himself, or to Jiis 
family or his kindred ? Ah no. He was torn from his family, liig 
kindred, and country, in the mid?t of alarm, and terror, conflagration 
and blood, occasioned for the very purpose of kidnapping, stealing and 
carrying off the defenceless. The purchase money was paid perhaps 
at the pubUc market, as for any other commodity which had several 
limes changed masters ; perhaps it was paid to the man who fitted 
out the ship and furnished it with manacles and fetters and chains to 
go on this expedition of robbery. And his agents in this nefarious 
traffic paid it to the manstealer in Africa, wlio headed the ruffiaji 
band tliat attacked and burnt the peaceful village. And thus it is 
that the purchase money, the equivalent for a life of servitude, the 
earnings of the slave, are advanced beforehand, to pay the price of 
robbery and manstcaling and murder, and all the korrors of the ?/uV/- 
ille pa^sdge, and the sufVorings of human beings crammed into the 
hold of a slave ship ! This is the manner in wliich slaves have been 
acquired, these three hundred years in the West Indies, and two 
hundred in North America ! And this is the tenure by which they 
were holden, at the formation of our national government. 

But as the knowledge of christian truth and civil rights advanced, 
and the consciences of men, who retained some traces of humanity, 
began to smite them, behold, the Jesuits were employed to find out 
from scripture, a title to the elave, which should prove as valid as the 
divine ri^hl of hin^s. They found it written, "cursed be Canaan, a 
servant of servants ^hall Ije be to his brethren." (Gen. ix. 25.) 



1:; 

WiLliouI, stopping tv) inquire whetlior Caaaan or li.d dusceii.lat.te 
inhabited Africa or not, they concludod thtit none roiild bo more tru-' 
ly styled, "servant of servants," most nl.joct of nil servants, than 
the African rlaves. Thus they no( only justify, but applaud th« 
abominable system, as fnlfdling the prophecies of Noah, and the de- 
crees of the Almighty. So inig-ht the Jews bo justified and api-laiirl- 
ed for crucifying the Saviour. Bo might wo justify and applaud th-; 
foulest crimes that ever disgraced humanity. Bat again, they foui!<l 
regulations in the Mosaic law, respecting servants bought witii 
money ; and even in the New-Testament, the " servants that uro 
under the j'oke are exh.ortcd to be obedient to their masters not only 
to the gentle, but to the fro ward." Now the?e sago reasoners, fur- 
get that our Saviour said, that some things under the Jewish dispen- 
sation were tolerated because of the hardness of their hearts, which 
were by no means approved. And it is necessary to make laws to 
restrain existing evils. Besides the Apostle Paul represents the con- 
dition of a servant under the Jewish polity as nothing different fron\ 
that of a child under ago. {Gal. 4. 1.) And as most excellent pro- 
visions were made for the instruction and management of children, 
and the servants were inmates of the family, and all were command- 
ed to love the stranger, it could not be that their servitude had the 
shadow of a resemblance to West Indian or Southern slavery. The 
utmost limit also of involuntary bondage was six years. 

But if giving directions on tlio subject authorized slavery, then re- 
quiring obedience to civil rulers, justified Nero, under whose govern- 
ment the christians were, in being a tyrant, and condemns all chris- 
tians, under whatever circumstances, for resisting the powers that be, 
however oppressive, because civil government is ordained of God. 

Now from the general tenure of the scriptures we loam not only 
our duties, but our rights, witii respect to our fellow men. And 
making the bible its own interpreter, no argument can be derived to 
justify or even countenance slavery in its present forms. It should 
therefore have made a Congress-man from Massachusetts, a man of 
talents and high standing as a scholar, and foresooth a clergyman too, 
— it should have made him blush and hang his head to have used 
these Jesuitical arguments in the halls of legislation, as the represent- 
ative of a free people. Spirits of '76 ! forever will ye frown upon 
such ignorance and baseness ! ! 

It will be asked then, if not under the sanction of God, bv what 



14 

tenure are servants bound to perpetual bondage in the United States ? 
It is by conventional agreement; and the charter is written intel- 
ligibly, though with studious effort to conceal it, when the curse shall 
have been wiped awoy ; it is recognized in the fundamental constitu- 
tion of the government. And it is founded on the maxim long since 
exploded, tliat ^^ power gives right." 

Suppose under this sanction " power gives right," I claim the per- 
son of a man, a black man, or a white man, it makes no difference 
which, and require tint all iiis faculties of body and mind during life, 
shall be employed solely for my benefit. Suppose he resists my claim 
and appeals to the high chancery of heaven, and files the declaration, 
" Of one blood iiath God made all nations of men to dwell on the face 
of the whole earth," and quotes the statute, " Thou siiat love thy 
neighbour as thyself." My claim in foro coruicienticc, and before the 
eternal JudTc is abandoned ; I give it up. But I claim indemnifica- 
tion under tlie social compact of the United States, wiiicli has under- 
taken, in the case of the black man, who was bought with money or 
inherited with the paternal estate, to guarantee this aliedgcd pro- 
perty, whether by right or by wrong, to be iioldcn forever, and with- 
out such stipulation, between the original thirteen States, white 
men io this country could not have established for themselves a free 
government. But impressed with the ma.xims of heavenly wisdom, 
that " a little, with righteousness, is better than great revenues with- 
out right," the one half of the slave holders or the whole body of 
ihem come forward and say to the nation wc cannot conscientiously 
hold this alledged property in human flesh, nor can we by relinquisli- 
in"- it ben-frar our families. Wc claim indemnification from the body 
politic, that guaranteed to us the possession of so much property. 
Wliy may not this claim be substantiated ? unless w? still abide by 
the barbarous maxim, that "power gives right." And if we do, 
then the old Congress under the articles of confederation, or tiie peo- 
ple of the United States when they ratified the present constitution, 
mi'^ht with equal justice hove guaranteed, to the states of New- York, 
Massachusetts and Ncw-IIampshire, their claims to jurisdiction over 
the green mountains, and to tribute also, if there had been power 
enough to exact it. If such guarantee had been unfortunately made, 
rather tlian fulfil it, long since would its obligation have been cancel- 
led bv dollars. Now I ask, wiiat can constitutionally or righteously 



15 



hinder the government, on proper application,* nom cancelling in ihia 
way both the claims of the master and the livinjr pluve. The dead 
we cannot relieve from the terrible pressure of that dire ncccxsity 
which forced us into such a compact. But I trust in God, tlic tnne 
IS not distant, when our judges of the supreme court, will take Iho 
high, and righteous and holy ground, that the United States, accor- 
ding to the explicit or implied obligations of that instrument, are 
bound to pay the ransom of every person lield in bondage under its 
provisions, and set that person at hberty. I ask who might not claim 
it, under the first and glorious principles of the constitution itself? 
How can v,e rest, till the incongruity of our practice, with our polit- 
ical doctrines, in the llice of all the world, shall no more be justly cast 
in our teeth. 

In the moan time, I am willing, and I trust every patriotic and good 
citizen is wiUing, to contribute, both of his property and of his inllu- 
ence, to urge forward this tardy and leaden-footed justice, to the con- 
aummation of her purposes. We can do it through the medium of 
the Colonization Society. This society stands on higher trround 
than those, which ask merely for charity. She comes to the very 
door of our conscience, and demands of us to satisfy the claims of 
righteousness and truth, while we provide safety for our wives and 
our children, our altars and our firesides, our state, and our common 
country. Her claims v/ill now be liberally answered by our contri- 
butions. 



JVote. *The hints in the preceding discourse are thrown out »o elicit 
discussion. If it should be uecessary to recede from some of the positions 
there taken, it will be no grief when a flood of light is poured upon the 
subject. That the general government are bound to free the land from the 
curse ol slavery is suggested as righteous and ctiuitable, on the same prin- 
ciples as granting pensions to the revolutionary soldiers. It is fulfilinj 
as near as may be lawful an ancient contract. Perhaps the principles of 
the Constitution of the United States do not admit ol intcrferenL-e on this 
subject, except at the request of the several states particularly concern- 
ed. But when an acknowledged evil exists, there must be a remedy, un- 
der institutions like oar own, capable of being formed and fashioned by 
the community. 



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